According to the newspaper Le Figaro, citing the chief of the air staff of France, General andré Lanata, two Tu-160 took off from Russia went around Norway and the UK and were met by French fighters over the channel. In the air to accompany the Russian aircraft were raised Rafale and Mirage 2000 that came near the bombers until they turned North.
Lanata said that Russian bombers were flying over international waters and did not violate the French frontier.
About Tu-160 in the area on February 17, reported Reuters with reference to the official representative of the Ministry of defence of great Britain, but no military details are not shown.
According to the French General, such flights of the Russian bombers are quite rare. Until February the last such incident was in January, when the fighters were raised to accompany the Tu-95 over the English channel.
In early September of last year, the UK also spotted near its airspace, two Tu-160 from Russia. In the summer a British the BBC published photos of ten Russian planes that were intercepted on July 24, while patrolling fighters Typhoon. It was about four bombers su-34, four MiG-31 fighters and two military transport aircraft An-26, which, according to the Royal air force, performed routine training.
